大象传媒

During the war I lived in North West Kent, I worked in Whitehall in the building which is now the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, it then housed the Foreign Office, India Office, Board of Trade and the Ministry of Works (the Cabinet War Rooms were under here). I was 19 in 1939. When bombing London began it was often very difficult to get back and forth. It was announced on radio that the Thames river buses were to re-start from Westminster pier to Woolwich pier, as I could get home quite well from Woolwich I tried it. I caught the last bus and seemed to have it to myself. We picked up a lot of men from somewhere called Cherry Gardens, quite a weight for a large vessel to come through Tower Bridge, the wash of this was this as causing us to bounce about like a cork.

However, the bus decided not to go all the way and we finished at Greenwich. We were a small jetty and tied to this was a barge and so we were left quite a large piece of filthy water to negotiate. The men all leaped over it shouting encouragement - eventually I made it. I have never been so frightened - I decided against River Buses!

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije and has been added to the website on behalf of Mrs Molly Smith with her permission and she fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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